Just a few food-related items in the news that have crossed my countertop recently: “Organic” doesn't necessarily mean 100% organic Did you know that in order to be labeled “organic” in the USA, a product only needs to be 95% organic? 'Tis true. Turns out, the remaining 5% can be ...

If you're a parent like me, you're probably concerned about the quality of the food your kids eat. It's hard enough to get kids to eat well without the food industry pushing sugar-coated cardboard as “part of this 'healthy' breakfast.” Which is why these two recent news articles caught my ...

Anybody who's been grocery shopping lately knows that food can be expensive. Especially if you're trying to avoid pesticides — “organic” foods are often even more costly than the regular non-organic varieties. I've written before about the Environmental Working Group's guide to minimizing the pesticides in your family's food without ...

So, about two weeks ago, my husband is fetching a bag of veggies from the garage freezer for supper... and he notices that some stuff in the freezer is starting to thaw out, and the compressor isn't running. Not good. We try various troubleshooting tactics, but nothing works. That sucker ...

Okay, so let's get this out of the way right up front: I don't hate McDonald's. Really. I mean, I know they're sort of the convenient “whipping boy” for all that's wrong with the fast-food industry, but srsly, folks, they're not that terrible. In fact, their salads are actually quite ...

Did you hear about the folks out in California who filed suit against a company that makes spicy bean dip and guacamole flavored dip, alleging false advertising? (Henderson v. Gruma Corp.) Apparently, these consumers took issue with some (actually, it seems as though it might be almost all) of the ...

Just today I found this excellent article concerning High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) over on SparkPeople. The author points out the current campaign to brand HFCS as “natural” is fairly meaningless, because there's no regulation on use of the word “natural.” Does it mean only products that are sold in ...

You may have heard about the lawsuit filed up in New York, alleging Snapple Beverage Corp. misled consumers by labeling its teas and juice drinks containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as “All Natural.” The plaintiffs originally tried to make the suit a class action, but got slapped down on ...

Lately, I've noticed what seems to be an increase in the incidents of people using words and phrases incorrectly, in a way that makes it clear they don't really understand what they're saying. For some reason, these have been grating on my nerves more so than usual. Please pardon me ...

I just came across a neat website: Local Harvest. You may remember awhile ago I mentioned we'd joined a produce buying group here in our local area. So far, we've loved it! It's been an adventure trying out new fruits and veggies (some of which we'd never heard of before, ...